Five years after the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, the state is about halfway toward meeting a 2018 deadline to repair or replace 136 other bridges that have been identified as having the most serious deficiencies.

Projects such as the replacement of the Lafayette Bridge, which carries U.S. 52 across the Mississippi River and the Maryland Avenue bridge across Interstate 35E, both in St. Paul, are part of a 10-year, $2.5 billion program created by the 2008 Legislature in an effort to prevent another catastrophe.

The legislation was a swift response just a few months after the I-35W bridge plunged into the Mississippi River during the peak of evening rush hour on Aug. 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100 others. The collapse brought to light that many of the state's bridges needed maintenance, repair or replacement and that funding was lacking.

With the completion of 13 projects this year, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will be halfway toward its goal of eliminating the backlog of repair and replacement of the 136 bridges deemed to have the most serious problems.

Those bridges are considered either structurally deficient or fracture critical -- having outdated design that allows the entire structure to fall if one component fails. That's what happened on I-35W.

"The I-35W bridge collapse made a change," said Bernard Lieder, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislator from Crookston who served on the state's transportation committee for 26 years before he retired in 2010.

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"Ironically, it stimulated the fact we need bridge work across the state, because it's an easy priority to push aside."

MnDOT was severely criticized after the I-35W bridge disaster for not making bridges a top priority, and six months after the collapse state legislators voted not to extend the term of MnDOT Commissioner Carol Molnau.

The 2008 plan approved by the Legislature, referred to as the Chapter 152 program, loans MnDOT $1.2 billion over 10 years for bridge projects.

Dan Galetka of Minneapolis works on the railroad underneath the Lafayette Bridge in St. Paul on Friday. The project is scheduled for completion in 2013.
(Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

MnDOT is required to chip in an additional $1.3 billion from its own funds -- mostly from a gas tax -- and has received some federal grants.

MnDOT has 20 years to repay the $1.2 billion loan plus interest.

"It's an aggressive project," said Tom Styrbicki, a Minnesota Department of Transportation bridge engineer. "But we've been able to make a dent in the structurally deficient, fracture-critical bridges in our system."

Besides the 136 bridges that will be repaired by 2018, an additional 35 bridges deemed safe for the near future are labeled either structurally deficient or fracture critical.

The big question for MnDOT is whether it will have funding beyond 2018 to pay for repair or replacement of those remaining bridges and others that eventually will need attention.

KEEPING PACE

Seventy of the 136 most problematic bridges will be fixed by the end of this year, which means MnDOT must fix 11 bridges in each of the next six years to reach its goal. The organization has averaged just more than 17 projects per season so far.

"We think in terms of millions of dollars per season, not number of bridges," Styrbicki said. "The program has been up and down in the number (of bridges per season); it just depends on the project's value."

There is little room for the kind of error MnDOT made with the Wakota Bridge -- which carries Interstate 494 traffic over the Mississippi and was finished three years later than planned and cost almost twice the initial estimate. Lawmakers said MnDOT mismanaged the project.

Mistakes to the westbound span halted the project and led to a dispute and a re-letting of bids. MnDOT officials said the size of the Wakota project, which included expanding the bridge to 10 lanes, was a "learning curve."

There is no penalty specified if MnDOT doesn't meet the 2018 deadline. The Legislature mandated only that it receive an annual progress report.

To keep up with the 10-year program, Styrbicki said, contingency plans are in place for a particularly rainy summer or spring flooding. By adding double or even triple shifts and working during the winter, MnDOT can make up for lost time.

However, with limited funds, MnDOT needs to pick and choose which bridges need immediate repair -- and which ones can wait a couple of years or longer.

Rust mars the underside of the Lafayette Bridge, which has been deemed in worse shape than the Interstate 35W bridge before its collapse in 2007.
(Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

For now, the focus is on Minnesota bridges that are aging and need structural maintenance or replacement, Styrbicki said.

"There are very few bridges in this state that are at risk of collapsing. Very few," Styrbicki said. "When we say 'low-risk,' we mean at low risk for needing a load limit or being closed down."

The state's loan to MnDOT was the right thing to do to fix the current bridge problem but not the long-term problem, said Margaret Donahoe, executive director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, a coalition that advocates for safe and effective transportation.

"Going forward, we know that every bridge gets inspected, and every year they get older," Donahoe said. "We can fix deficient bridges, but new ones will come up on the list."

However, MnDOT continues its regular schedule of bridge repairs while Chapter 152 allows it to go "above and beyond," Styrbicki said.

In Arden Hills, a series of bridges are closed to expand lanes on Interstate 694 and to rebuild the Interstate 35E and U.S. 10 interchange. Because the bridges aren't structurally deficient, the cost of construction must come out of MnDOT's normal repair fund.

BIG PROJECTS

Four of the five costliest bridge projects being completed with Chapter 152 money are in the east metro area: $362 million for Minnesota's share of the nearly $700 million St. Croix River Crossing; $215 million to repair the U.S. 61 bridge over the Mississippi River north of Hastings; $214 million to repair the Lafayette Bridge over the Mississippi in St. Paul; and $162 million to fix the I-35E bridge over Cayuga Street in St. Paul.

The new St. Croix bridge, which will replace the 1931-built Stillwater Lift Bridge, may be completed by 2016.

A string of lawsuits has caused "false starts in the design and construction process," said Styrbicki, who has been with MnDOT since 2000.

"To be within three years of it being built, that's pretty good at this point," he said.

Structurally speaking, the Lafayette Bridge was deemed in worse shape than the I-35W bridge before its collapse. Like that bridge, the Lafayette was classified as fracture critical. St. Paul city engineer John Maczko said he's thankful it is finally being replaced.

"We're extremely pleased with the work MnDOT has done so far in the St. Paul area," Maczko said. "Especially the Lafayette and Maryland Avenue bridges."

The Lafayette Bridge should be completed next year.

With all of these bridge projects going on at once, drivers are certainly seeing more orange cones. MnDOT is trying to lessen the burden on drivers with new technologies.

One example is at the Maryland Avenue bridge, where workers have been building the bridge deck off to the side of I-35E for a couple of months, allowing the freeway to remain open. Conventional methods would have led to weeklong closures.

"It only adds about 10 percent to our construction costs," Styrbicki said. "But it gets rid of a lot of frustration for the user."

I-35E will be closed for about 24 hours on Aug. 18 to put the new, already-cured concrete bridge deck into place.

"MnDOT is very in touch with the progressing technology across the country," said Catherine French, a civil engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. "They introduce or follow new technologies that are proven."

MOVING FORWARD

After the Chapter 152 money is used up in six years, what then?

Besides the 35 bridges that are scheduled to be fixed after 2018, there likely will be more structures that have deteriorated by then.

Styrbicki said MnDOT has plans for five, 10 and 20 years into the future, shuffling its limited funds to match the most needy projects in the next five-year span.

However, MnDOT's 10- and 20-year plans show a problem.

"Right now, what we see with our revenue projections, it's not going to fully fund our (future) needs," Styrbicki said.

MnDOT is funded through the Minnesota trunk highway fund, with the bulk of its revenue coming from taxes, primarily gas taxes. The fund is used for highway work, as well as for paying back any loans from the state -- including the Chapter 152 loan.

When Chapter 152 was implemented, the Legislature also approved a plan to raise gas taxes incrementally over four years, up from the 20 cents per gallon it had levied since 1988. This month, the state gas tax hit its scheduled peak of 28.5 cents per gallon.

For fiscal year 2010, the trunk highway fund was $1.5 billion, with a little more than $800 million coming from taxes. Most of the rest came from federal programs.

Even though gas tax revenue is expected to increase by $50 million from 2010 to 2015, concerns arise that those funds won't match the growing costs of bridge and road construction.

"We can't survive moving forward on a system that's based on gas use, when gas use is going down," said Maczko, the St. Paul city engineer. "A hybrid vehicle uses the roadway, but it isn't necessarily paying for it."

Lieder, the former legislator, echoed the sentiment, adding that some kind of mileage-based tax or toll bridges are needed.

"I don't like the idea of tolls," Lieder said. "But, you've got these massive structures that are putting us in debt, and it's because no one is paying for them."

Lieder said the new St. Croix River bridge would be a "perfect place" to collect tolls.

"There aren't many crossings in the area, you could have good control, and the toll doesn't need to be that high," he said.

MnDOT said its 10- and 20-year plans are essential no matter where the money comes from after 2018.

"When it comes to bridges, and the safety of travelers on the road, that is and will always be our number one priority," MnDOT spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said.

There's no dispute that a new source of revenue is needed.

"Bottom line is: there simply isn't enough money to go around," said Donahoe, executive director with the Minnesota Transportation Alliance. "We don't have enough money to even maintain the infrastructure we have. Wherever the priority lies -- bridges, culverts, highway repair or expansion -- something is going to be underfunded."

MaryJo Webster contributed to this report. She can be reached at 651-228-5507.